Subsoiling apparatus.



J. V. GUDMOND-HOYER.

SUBSOILING APPARATUS. ArrLloA-Tlon FILED APB.. 9, 1914.

.Patented J an: 12, 1915.

3 SHBETSPSHEET 1.

J. V. udmond 3. V. GUDMOND-HOYER.

SUBSOILING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 9. 1914.

Patented Jan. 12, 1915. l

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

MM MMU Mmmm J", V. Guimond-Eger J. V. GUDMOND-HOYBR.

SUBSOILING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1914.

1,125,018. Patented Jan-12,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J'KOB V. GUDMOND-HOYER, 0F MORRIS, NEW YORK.

sUBsoILING APPARATUS. 'i

speciiicatioii of Letters Patent.

' raten-tea aan. 1a, 1915.v

Application led April 9,-1914. Serial No. 830,833.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J AKOB V. GUDMOND- HOYER, a subject of the King of Denmark, residing at Morris, in the county of Otsego and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements'in Subsoiling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention appertains in general to agricultural machinery and to that type of apparatus designed for'breaking hardpan or subsoiling through the instrumentality of explosives, comprehending as its object the provision of suitable mechanism for drilling progressively holes in the ground to be operated upon, and depositing in said holes an explosive charge which is automaticallyired when the apparatus has reached a predetermined point of safety.

In carrying outl my invention, l preferably employ a motor vehicle on the forward portion of which is installed hole boring mechanism driven at will from the motor of .said vehicle, while at the rear of the latter is the extremity of which conductor is attached in turn 'by the operator an explosive cartridge which is dropped into a hole previously bored, and when the machine is at a safe distance said conductor brings into action a circuit closing member which automatically closes the electric circuit and fires the explosive charge.

A further vob ect is to provide a plurality of such reels to permit the disposition of a series of charges, each of which is successively fired at predetermined times controlled by the movement of the vehicle whereby a continuous operation of depositing and explosion of the charges may be effected.

' A further object of this invention is to provide actuating means for the reel or reels whereby the conductor after depositing the explosive cartridge and being paid out to a predetermined extent may be quickly rewound up'cn the reel to enable replanting of a subsequent charge.

These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained by the novel coristruction, combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter specifically described and claimed'. l

Reference will now be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,l wherein Figure l is a side elevation of an apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention. Figs. '2 and 3 are front and rear elevations, respectively, of the saine. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail View of the clutch o erating mechanism for the drilling tool emp oyed lin the apparatus. Fig. 5 is a sectional View on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is an enlarged view in elevation of the charge firingA mechanism used in my apparatus. Fig. 7 is a detail fragmentary view in elevation of the vehicle stopping mechanism for automatically bringing said vehicle carrying the mechnisms of my invention to a stop at predetermined points; and Fig. 8 is a yhorizontal sectional view on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Referring to the drawings and specically describing my invention the numeral 1 designates a motor vehicle, 2 the motor therefor, 3 the driving shaft operatively connected through the driving chains 4 to the rear driving wheels 5. It will be understood that any desired design of vehicle may readily be that the vehicle be of a predetermined length to best carry out the operation, as will be hereinafter more fully disclosed. Arranged at the forward extremity of the vehicle is the boring or drilling mechanism comprising a vertically disposed toothed lifting bar or rack 6, operable by means of a hand wheel 7 located adjacent to the drivers seat 8 and the steering column 9, said wheel being carried by the shaft-10 which has at its outer end the pinion 11 meshing with the lifting bar 6. I

Referring particularly to Fig. 4 of the drawings it will be noted that the lower extremity of the bar 6 is loosely connected to the upper extremity of a bit or auger or other suitable drilling tool 12, the connection permitting free rotation of said auger .during movement of, thesame by said liftioo ishaft 3 having a beveled pinion 13 at its extremity intermeshing with a similar pinion 14 on a vertical shaft 15 supported in arms 16 of the depending frame 17 and thelower end of the shaft 15 carries a gear 18 intermeshing with a relatively sliding gear 19 of the clutch element 2,0. The up er-extremity of said clutch element is pre erably frusto-conical in shape and extends into a .coperating clutch element 21 which has an internal lug 21 movable in a groove 22 extending longitudinally of the auger, as clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawi ings, and the lower end of the element 20 has loose connection with the headed extremity of the liftin lever 23 pivotally mounted at 24 on the rame 17. The opposite end of said lever is connected to a foot lever 25, so that it will be obvious upon depression of the foot lever 25 the clutch element 20 will be raised until it frictionally engages the element 21 loperatively con'- .nected to the auger 12, thereby communicating rotation imparted to the clutch element 20 by the shaft 3 to said auger. The auger is operated to drill a hole the proper depth by means of the hand wheel 7 which lowers or raises the bar 6. In' actual use the holes in the round to be operated upon are bored .at prefgletermined distancesapart and any suitable means may be employed by which gto determine the interval between said holes,

as hereinafter described.

Upon the rear extremity of the vehicle is located the'charge firing mechanism of this electric current th'e circuit in which said bar apparatus and a`- supporting frame 26 is provided in which I' mount a horizontal shaft 27 loosely carrying a plurality of spools or reels 28 there being any desired number of such reels but as illustrated in the drawings, I employ ve of the same. The shaft 27 is operatively connected with the driving axle of the vehicle through the instrumentality of the driving chains 29vso .that during operation or movement of the vehicle the shaft is caused to revolve. Upon each of these reels is wound a conductor or what I specifically term a leading wire 30 of suitable size and length for properly performing the function now tobe described. The free extremity of each of the conductors 30 has connected thereto a drag weight 31 and they pass downwardly through suitable insulated openings of a guiding bar 32 of material which will properly conduct an is included leadin from a suitable source such as the batteries 33. n

With the foregoing in mind, and assuming that the apparatus/is to be operated, the operator on the forwardseat, by manipulation of the au er drills a hole, and then advances the vehic e the length of the same or until the hole is directly beneath an opening in the .floor or bottom of said vehicle adjacent the rear seat 34. The second operator on this seat extracts a cartridge 36 of explosive first or right-'hand reel, see Fig. 6. Lower-y ing the cartridge through the conductor guidin @member 32 until it is roperly deposite ,in the hole'in the groun beneath his feet, he opens a door 38 'at the lower extremity of a chute 39 leading from the com-i partment 40 between the rear seat 34 and the motor 2 which contains the tamping` material, permitting a suilicient amount of such material which preferably consists of marl, to drop upon the cartridge. This material is then tamped by any suitable instrument such as a plunger or stick and the machine VIoves forward tothe next hole where the operation is repeated with respect to the second-reel, and so onuntil the five car- ,y

tridges have been planted.

Assuming for the sake of illustration that the distance between each hole bored is 15 feet, when the fifth cartridge has been deposited the irst'one will be some sixty feet vaway, the second forty-five, etc., and asy the first conductor or wire 30 has approximately played out its full length controlled byL movement of the vehicle a metallic bridging member or circuit closer 41 connected to'said conductor is pulled down upon the guiding bar plate 32 in such a manner as to span the insulated opening through which said Wire passes, thereby closing the electric circuit and iring .the first cartridge connected to its extremity.' The circuit for the -electric current by means of which theexplosive charge is fired may be arranged in any convenient manner but it is preferable thatthe reels or spools 28 should be of a non-conducting material and thaty the guiding bar 32 be supported on the frame 26 `by insulating sup-.

ports 32" insuring that the current will flow from one terminal of the kbattery through the guide bar and the proper leading wire yto 'the cartridge and from the ground through the vehicle wheels to the other terminal of the battery. Such firing takes place progres-` sively as the machine advances over the members of each wirey are brought into con- 'tact with the guiding bar 32. As the maiso -ground and the respective circuit closing -v shaft 3,.as shown most Figs. 3 and 6 of the drawings, that each of the reels is provided with a clutch and lever to enable rewinding of the respective conductors thereupon so that a new cartridge may be connected to the drag weight as the free end arrives in position for the rear operator to handle the same.

As hereinbefore mentioned I preferably employ in conjunction with this apparatus means for automatically bringing the motor vehicle to a stop at predetermined points so as to enable the drilling of the openings in the ground by the auger at regular intervals thus, furthermore, insuring that the openings will come successively to a pointy beneath the operator at the rear of the machine to permit him to deposit in the openings the explosive charge. Such mechanism preferably consists of a cam Wheel 44 mounted upon a shaft 45 journaled in a standard 46 near the forward extremity of the machine, which shaft is driven through the driving chains 47, 48 from the vehicle driven clearly in Fig. 1 of the drawing. The cam wheel 44 is provided with a grooved periphery as indicated at 48, a portion of said groove, at one side of the wheel, being deeply cut out as indicated at 49 in Fig. 8 of the drawings. Secured tothe frame of the vehicle adjacent the cam wheel 44 is an operatinglever 50 normally held in the groove 48 of the cam wheel by means of a spring 51, the lowerl end of said lever being connected to the brake rod 52 passing to the brake 53 on the rear driving axle of the vehicle.

At 54, (see Fig. 8) is denoted a projecting lug on the cam wheel 44, and the purpose of the same will now be described. The size of the cam wheel44 or the ratio of its connection with the drive shaft of the motor vehicle is such that one revolution of this wheel represents the proper interval between a pair of openings which are madey bymeans of the drilling mechanism. When a hole has been made in the ground by the drilling member 12 the operator ofthe vehicle moves the operating lever 50 on its pivot uso as to engage the same on the lug 54 of the cam wheel and throwing in his clutch the vehicle will move forwardly causing rotation of the cam wheel by reason of its connection with the vehicle drive shaft. Vhen the wheel 44 has substantially rotated a single rotation, the lever moving around the groove 48 reaches the deep -portion of the groove 49 and under actuation of the spring 51 applies the brake to the vehicle through the operative connection 52 and bringls the vehicle to a stop automatically so t at the hole drilled as just mentioned will be properly located beneath the opening at the rear portion of the vehicle to enable the deposit of [the explosive cartridge. tails of this arrangement may be changed Obviously the de- `able by the last mentioned means to within the purview of this invention and the scope of the claims hereto appended.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new is: 1. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, means for depositing an explosive charge, an electric circuit, and means operable by the depositing means for closing the circuit to fire the charge.

2. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, means for depositing an explosive charge, an electric circuit, and means automatically operable by the depositing meansfor closing the circuit to fire the charge at a predetermined time.

3. In subsoiling scribed, the combination of a vehicle, means for depositing an explosive charge, an electric circuit,` and means operable by the depositing means and controlled by movement apparatus of the class dei of the vehicle for closing the circuit to fire the charge.

4. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, hole boring means carried by said vehicle, an electric circuit, means for depositing an eX- plosive charge in the holes bored by the drilling means aforesaid, and means operclose said circuit and fire the charge at a predetermined time. y

5. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a' vehicle, charge firing mechanism carried thereby and including a conductor to which a charge is connected for disposition at a predetermined point, and a circuit closing member coperating with the conductor for firing the charge at a predetermined point.

6. In subsoiling apparatus of thel class described, the combination of a vehicle, charge firing mechanism carried thereby and including a conductor to which a charge is connected for disposition at a predetermined point and adapted to be paid out on movement of the vehicle, and means controlled by the movement of said vehicle forviring the charge when the vehicle has reached a predetermined distance from said charge.

7. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, charge `which said conductor is included, a circuit closing member connected to the conductor and adapted to automatically close the electric circuit at a predetermined point of paying out of the electric conductor ytoire the charge when the vehicle has reached .a

proper distance away from the deposited charge.

`mally out of electric connectionwith the conductor aforesaid, and a circuit closing member voperable by the conductor at a predetermined point in its unwinding to close the circuit and fire the charge when the vehicle has moved away from the same a proper distance.

9. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, hole boring mechanism carried thereby, charge firing mechanism onsaid vehicle comprising a reel, a shaft carrying said reel and operably connected for actuation by the vehicle, a conductor member wound upon the reel to which a charge is adapted to be connected for disposition in a. hole bored by the boring mechanism aforesaid and to be paid out as the vehicle moves away from the point of deposit, and means f or rewinding the conductor after firing the charge.

10. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, hole boring mechanism carried thereby, charge firing mechanism mounted on said vehicle and comprising a reel, a shaft on which said reel is loosely mounted, driving means for said shaft whereby to actuate the same during movement of the vehiclea leading wire wound upon said ical and to the end of which is adapted to be connected an explosive charge, a guiding member associated -ivith the leading wire for facilitating depositing of the explosive charge, said wire being adapted to unwind from said reel as the vehicle is moved, clutch means carried b v the shaft for interlocking the reel to move therewith, and means for operating said clutch means whereby to rewind the wire upon said reel when said shaft is actuated. V

l1. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, boring mechanism carried thereby for drilling holes at predetermined pointscharge firing mechanism on said vehicle and comprising a plurality of reels, a shaft on which said reels,

included in said circuit and having insulated y i openings therein through which the conductors aforesaid pass, and means actuated by said conductors fr closing the circuit afore-` said and the conductor whereby to fire the insulated openings through which the wires 'i aforesaid pass, an electric circuit in which said guide member is included, a circuit closing member carried by each of the aforesaid leading wires and adapted to be actui i ated by the same as the wire is paid out during movement of the vehicle and to cooperate ivith the guide member aforesaid to close the electric circuit and cause the current to iow through the leading wire to the explosive charge connected to said wire for firing the same at a predetermined point in the paying out of said leading wire, and means for rewinding the wireson said reels after the charges have been fired.

13. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, charge iring mechanism carried thereby, an electric circuit, a conductor member to which an explosive charge is adapted to be connected and to be paid out for deposit and normally insulated from said electric circuit, and means connected to the conductor for actuation thereby at a predetermined point in its length to automatically close said `electric circuit and cause passage of the current through said conductor to the charge for iring the same. l

14. In subsoiling apparatusof theclass describedl` the combination of a vehicle, charge firing mechanism carried thereby, an electric circuit, a conductor member to which an explosive charge is adapted to be connected and to be paid out for deposit, means normally maintaining the conductor disconnectedfrom said electric circuit, and a circuit closing member adapted to coperate with the last mentioned means to automatically close the circuit and iire the charge upon ypaying out of a predetermined length of' said conductor member.

15. In subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle,

means for propelling said vehicle, charge` tiring mechanism carried by said` vehicle, said mechanism comprising explosive depositing means, and means for automatically controlling the stoppage of said vehicle whereby the explosive charges may be deposited `at regular intervals.

16. In' subsoiling apparatus of the class described, the combination of a vehicle, charge firing mechanism carried thereby and including means for depositing explosive charges, brake mechanism for said vehicle, and means for applying the brake at predetermined points in the movement of said vehiele whereby the explosive charges may b e .deposited at predetermined points in the movement of said vehicle.

. In testimony whereof I ax my signature 1n presence of two witnesses.

JAKOB V. GUDMOND-HOYER.

Witnesses: i

MERRITT BRIDGES, ALFRED D. HARRIS. 

